Masquerade
by Little Sakura-chan
Summary: She has hidden behind her mask for this long. A little bit longer should only break her a bit more. Besides, it's only the soul and the face that's the same and that's not what he loves.


**Beginning Note:** Soooo, while on assignment aka dog-sitting for my uncle, I decided to take advantage of his Netflix where I proceeded to stuff 50+ episodes of Inuyasha into six days all while going to bed before 1am. Thus I have become re-obsessed with the show from my high school days. So here's a quick little one-shot that popped into my head. Yes, I know I should attempt to finish _Possession_ as well as finish my unbelievably long Naruto one-shot that's been in the works for several years. I'm slowly but surely making my way through my several fanfics. Hopefully something will appear soon. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:**__I do not own any of these fantabulous characters. They are the property of Takahashi Rumiko and I humbly beg for any disparities!

**Masquerade**

Tears slid down porcelain skin, rivers of salt that never seemed to stop flowing. She was tired of crying. Tired of never being good enough for the hanyou that couldn't forget the priestess who wanted him dead.

She had seen the love and desperation in his face when he had embraced her. The unapologetic way his golden eyes had met her stunned brown ones or how he didn't even have the decency to look ashamed of his actions or away from her gaze. He was Kikyou's despite her hatred and betrayals.

"I'm such a fool," Kagome whispered to herself, wiping away her sorrow only to have it replaced with more tears.

She had tried her best to be what Inuyasha needed and she had tried to understand and support the headstrong man-child's strange obsession with the earthen and bone Kikyou. But love didn't have any boundaries, she had thought several times as they traveled together.

Kagome just couldn't contend with the priestess. She may have had Kikyou's soul and they looked similar, but the living couldn't compete with the dead. Not in Inuyasha's eyes. Kikyou had made the choice to follow him in death fifty years earlier. The girl knew she just couldn't vie with that sort of sacrifice. It wasn't that Kagome was unwilling to make it, Inuyasha just wouldn't accept it.

Seeing the hanyou and the priestess embrace tenderly had torn her to pieces inside. She couldn't banish the image from her mind, as hard as she tried. Each time the picture formed, fresh tears would run down her already slick cheeks. Kagome clutched her pillow harder and tried to subdue the racking sobs.

She turned to the door when she heard a noise and saw Sota peeking in.

"What?" she asked, voice thick with tears.

"I wanted to see if you were okay, onee-chan," the young boy said softly, opening the door wide to let Buyo in.

The large cat padded over to Kagome, jumping on the bed and laying down next to her for comfort. The girl managed to squeeze out a smile and an affectionate head rub for the feline. She watched her little brother cross the room to sit in her desk chair, facing her. A concerned look made him seem like a little old man, with a crease of worry between his brows.

"I'm fine," she managed to choke out, wiping away the wetness with the back of her hand.

"You don't look fine," he observed, kicking his feet against the top rung of the desk chair. "You've been crying for a long time."

Kagome turned her face away.

"You wouldn't understand, Sota," she said, staring at the wall and willing her tears to stop.

"Mom wants to know if you're going to come down for dinner tonight."

The girl sighed. She couldn't stay up in her room and cry for days. She hadn't eaten all day and tomorrow she would have to go to school. She had missed too much already. And she had to face her family at some point.

She sat up, taking deep breaths to slow her tears. She was stronger than this. Hadn't living in the Feudal Era shown her that? She was not the type of person to be reduced to a puddle of tears every time something did not go as expected.

"I'll come down," she said softly, standing and straightening out her rumpled skirt.

Sota jumped up, a small smile on his face.

"I'll tell Mom!" he said, getting ready to scamper away. Before he did, he threw his arms around his sister's middle, hugging her tightly.

The girl looked down at him, surprised.

"What was that for?"

"Just because," he said. "You needed a hug."

Kagome gave the boy's retreating back a small smile. Sota was one of a kind and always concerned about everyone else's feelings.

_He's a good kid_, Kagome thought as she washed away her tears in the bathroom.

The next day at school, her friends pestered her about her secret 'boyfriend.' She politely dodged the questions as much as possible, just telling her friends that they had broken up. She gave them her best fake smile which she knew would make them back off because it was scary.

The girls told her that he was just stupid and Kagome was inclined to agree. Most boys were stupid and Inuyasha was no exception.

But as she found herself staring at the Sacred Tree, the tree where she had first met the hanyou, in the temple courtyard after school, she realized she didn't hate Inuyasha. She missed him. She missed her friends from the past and the arguments they had from time to time. It didn't help that the fact she had Shikon Jewel fragments with her, pressing her mind with the urgent need to return them to Feudal Japan.

To her surprise, tears welled in her eyes as she gazed at the worn spot where Inuyasha had been pinned. She had managed to not cry all day.

"Kagome?" came her mother's confused voice behind her.

The girl turned around and ran to her mother, throwing herself into the arms of the woman who had held her close as a baby. Arms wrapped around her daughter's shoulders, her mother listened to story Kagome told. She had never seen the girl sound so unsure of herself.

She could never tell her daughter what to do, but she told her daughter to follow her heart. It would know where to lead her.

"I miss him. I miss Inuyasha," Kagome whispered. "I'm going to go back."

Her mother smiled at her, knowing the girl had made the right decision. In time, Kagome would see that the hanyou boy would love her. That thought warmed her as she packed supplies for her daughter to bring back to the Feudal Era.

"Be careful," her mother said as Kagome prepared to jump into the well.

The girl returned to her mother, giving her a quick hug and whispering 'thanks' in her ear before jumping over the side of the ancient well.

Climbing up out of the well, Kagome was met with a surprise. At the edge of the woods was Inuyasha, looking like he hadn't slept in several days. He stared at her in shock and astonishment. Her chest hurt as he strode towards her. The desire to return home was strong, but she ignored it and focused on the man-child making his way over to her.

He was decent enough to mumble a quick sorry and hello, as was his way. It didn't matter. Since she would never be good enough, she resigned herself to her fate.

She locked her hurt behind a smile as she stared at the hanyou she had fallen in love with. She would stay for now. The fragmented Shikon Jewel was her responsibility. She could bear the shame of being not wanted long enough to collect all the pieces and return home for good.

She held out her hand and Inuyasha placed his warm one in hers and squeezed. He still look unsure as she beamed at him, cheeks beginning to hurt.

"Let's go," Kagome said, tugging him towards the next closest thing she had towards a home in this era.

While she was not enough for Inuyasha to love and even though it hurt, she would be there as a friend for as long as she could. Until the Shikon Jewel was completed or she broke. Whichever came first.

**A/N: I know this is based way early in the series, but I didn't exactly have a huge amount of time to finish 200+ episodes. I still have to say that 50+ episodes in less than a week is fairly impressive. It does help to have food poisoning one of those days. Well, I hope you enjoyed my first Inuyasha fic! Read and review please!**


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